It is often necessary to hold a rope and pull it hard in order to place a tensile loading on the rope. Sailing for example, requires ropes such as sheets, halyards and the like to be pulled in order to properly set a sail, raise a sail or like operations. Pulling on a rope in this manner can hurt the hands of the person pulling on the rope.
One simple rope puller known to the Applicant is described in U.S. Pat. Specification No. 4,302,869. However, it is considered that this rope puller is too cumbersome and the rope is not easily introduced into the cleat of the rope puller. A similar problem is associated with the rope puller described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,744,098.
It is an object of this invention to provide a device for hand gripping a rope which is easy to engage with and disengage from a rope.
According to the invention a device for use in manually exerting a tensile force in a rope comprises an elongated handle adapted to fit in the palm of a user's hand, a passage for a rope extending through the handle from one end of the handle to the side of the handle at a position removed from the said end, the passage being open to the exterior of the handle along the whole of its length and including rope gripping means in its length.
Further according to the invention the passage is generally `L` shaped and is in the form of a recess in the handle.
Still further according to the invention the operation of the gripping means is uni-directional and adapted to grip a rope emerging from the passage at the side of the handle.
Still further according to the invention the rope gripping means is a cleat the cleat having at least one `V` shaped formation for engaging a rope.
Still further according to the invention the handle includes finger grip formations on the side thereof corresponding to the end of the passage.
Still further according to the invention the handle includes an aperture therethrough.
Still further according to the invention the handle may include a whistle.
Still further according to the invention the handle may include a shackle key.